Packaging device

ABSTRACT

A packaging device comprising an open-ended tubular sleeve and a pair of shells, one of which projects outwardly of one end of said sleeve and the other of which projects inwardly of the other end of said sleeve to define between the sleeve and the shells a compartment for an article of merchandise. The outwardly projecting shell in one such packaging device being receivable into the inwardly projecting shell of another such packaging device whereby a pair of said packaging devices may be nested one within the other. The two shells are releasably securable to each other to define a storage enclosure for such article of merchandise.

imite@ States Patent i191 Brechen' [451 July 30,1974

[541 PACKAGING DEVICE 3,208,620 9/1965 Herdcring 220/4 E [76] Inventor: Nicholas M. Brecher, 2 Manor Ln., Primary Emminer LeOnard Summer Lawrence N'Y' l i559 Attorney, Agent, 0r Firm-Henry R. Lerner [22] Filed: June 9, 1972 Y [21] Appl. No.; 261,273 [571 ABSTRACT A A packaging device comprising an open-ended tubular sleeve and a pair of shells, one of which projects out- [52] U'S Cl 206/216 206/4534 wardly of one end of said sleeve and the other of which projects inwardly of the other end of said sleeve //(i to define between the sleeve and the shells a compari e 0 22o/4E ment for an article of merchandise. The outwardly projecting shell in one such packaging device being receivable into the inwardly projecting shell of an- [56] References Cited other such packaging device whereby a pair of said UNITED STATES PATENTS packaging devices may be nested one within the other. 1,216,031 2/1917 Wilcox 220/97 R X The two Shells are releasably securable t0 each other l,509,524 9/l924 MOlllSOIl R UX t0 define a Storage enclosure for Such article of mer- 2,304,681 12/1942 Eckart 20e/45.34 Chandise' 2,501,468 3/1950 Klcin 206/45.34 2,681,142 6/1954 Cohen 220/4 E X 2 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a packaging device for articles of merchandise and has particular application to merchandise such as hosiery and pantyhose.

Successful packaging of articles of wearing apparel such as pantyhose is a most difficult problem which has not heretofore been satisfactorily resolved. More specifically, for such packaging device to be successful, a number of goals must be achieved thereby, namely, l) its contents must be readily visible to the consumer without, however, requiring manipulation of the contents; (2) such packaging device must be attractive so as to draw the attention of potential customers; (3) the successful packaging device must be compactly designed so as to permit a large number of packages to be readily available to potential customers while occupying a minimum amount of shelf space; (4) the packaging device should have subsequent utility as a storage container for its contents within the household; (5) the packaging device must be simply assemblable and low in cost.

The conventional packaging devices for articles of the type involved herein, namely, pantyhose, consist of an ordinary transparent plastic bag which contains a card around which the article is wrapped, resulting in a package which, at best, satisfies some but far from all of the requirements set forth above. More specifically,

such conventional package requires a large cross sec-y tion area per each article, makes stacking difficult because of relative sliding between adjacent packages, and does not provide or include means for permitting storage of the article in a household following its initial use.

The present invention provides a packaging device which meets all the requirements set forth above in a highly ingenious manner, while maintaining the cost thereof substantially at the same level as conventional packaging.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a packaging device consisting of a tubular sleeve, and a pair of complementary shells. The tubular sleeve is adapted to retain one of said shells so that it projects outwardly of one end of the tubular sleeve and the other of said shells so that it projects inwardly of the sleeve from the opposite end thereof. Such retention is accomplished by cooperating means on the sleeve and the shells which comprise an in-turned peripheral edge at each of the opposite ends of the sleeve, defining a pair of continuous beads, and mating flanges on the peripheral edges of the shells. Thus, the sleeve retains the two shells in so-called parallel spaced relation wherein one of the shells projects outwardly and is visible while the other shell is inwardly of the sleeves defining a concavity in the package. The space between the two shells and the sleeve defines the compartment wherein the article is contained, which article becomes visible to the consumer through the projecting shell which is usually transparent while the other shell creates a concavity which enables nesting of the packaging devices one within the other.

The flanges on the shells which cooperate with the beads on the sleeve are also complementary to each other so that the two shells can be secured together by means of said flanges to define an enclosure which can be used for storing the article in an appropriate place such as a drawer, preventing unnecessary handling of the article, and, in the case of a pair of hosiery, preventing a matched pair from separating. The shells may have a hemispherical, cubic or any other desirable configuration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. l is an elevational perspective view of the packaging device in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the three components forming part of said packaging device;

FIG. 3 is an elevational perspective view showing two packaging devices in accordance with the invention nested one within the other;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3, on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the bubble formed by assembling the two shells in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 6a is a view showing area A of FIG. 6, on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the packaging device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is an elevational perspective view of another embodiment of the packaging device in accordance with the invention; j

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the three components forming part of the packaging device of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of two packaging devices in accordance with FIG. 8, one nested within the other;

FIG. 1l is an elevational perspective view of the storage enclosure formed by assembling the two shells of the embodiment of FIG. 8; and

FIG. l1 A is a sectional view on an enlarged scale, showing the interconnection between the two shells in FIG. 11.

DESCRIPTION OF TI-IE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, reference numeral l0 identifies the packaging device in accordance with the invention.

Such packaging device comprises, as best seen in FIG. 2, a tubular sleeve 12, a first transparent shell 14, which projects outwardly of one end of tubular sleeve l2, and a second transparent shell 16 which projects inwardly of the opposite end of tubular sleeve l2. At best shown in FIG. 4, the opposite free ends of tubular sleeve 12 are turned inwardly to define peripheral beads I8 and 19, respectively. Shell 14, which is of t made of transparent relatively thin plastic having flexibility.

Packaging device 10 is assembled by first inserting shell 14 inwardly of sleeve l2 until flange 20 engages bead 18 in which position the shell projects outwardly of the sleeve. The article of wearing apparel as, for example, a pair of pantyhose, is then inserted inwardly of the sleeve and, finally, shell 16 is inserted inwardly of the sleeve into engagement with the pantyhose, such insertion past bead 19 being possible by slight manipulation of flexible shell 16. The natural resiliency of the gathered pair of pantyhose P disposed between shells 14 and 16 tends to urge both said shells against their respective stops to maintain packaging device l() in stable condition. As best shown in FIG. 4, the construction of packaging device l enables a plurality of similar packages to be nested one within the other for purposes of display or for purposes of packing. Thus, packaging device in FIGS. 3 and 4 firmly supports packaging device 10 by engagement of peripheral beads 19 and 18', respectively.

As best shown in FIGS. 6 and 6a, peripheral flange 20 in shell 14 is shaped so as to define a continuous peripheral channel adapted to receive flange 22 of shell 16 in secured relation thereto. Accordingly, shells 14 and 16 can easily be assembled to form a spherical bubble in which the pair of pantyhose can be contained for storage purposes.

FIGS. 8 through 1l show another embodiment 30 of the invention, generally similar to the embodiment 10 of FIGS. l through 7, except that the shells are of square or boxlike configuration instead of hemispherical or bubble-like configuration.

Thus, packaging device 30 comprises a tubular sleeve 32 having a square cross-section, a first transparent shell 34 and a second transparent shell 36, each having a correspondingly complementary square crosssection. First transparent shell 34 projects outwardly of one end of tubular sleeve 32, while second transparent shell 36 projects inwardly of the opposite end of tubular sleeve 32. Tubular sleeve 32 is provided at its opposite free ends with peripheral beads 38 and 39, similar to peripheral beads 18 and 19 in the embodiment of FIGS. l through 7. Shell 34 is provided with a peripheral flange 40 having a downwardly extending skirt portion 41, and shell 36 is provided with a peripheral flange 42. Accordingly, it is seen, as best shown in FIG. 10, that bead 38 defines a stop for flange 40 of shell 34 thereby retaining said flange within sleeve 32, with shell 14 projecting outwardly of said sleeve. Similarly, bead 39 defines a stop for peripheral flange 42 to retain shell 36 inwardly of tubular sleeve 32. Packaging device 30 is thus seen to be assemblable with a garment P therein in precisely the same manner as previously described in connection with packaging device 10. Also, as shown in FIG. 10, a pair of packaging devices 30 and 30 are easily nestable one within the other.

As best seen in FIGS. l1 and 11A, shells 34 and 36 can easily be secured to each other to form a rectangular or boxlike shaped enclosure in which the garment P can be retained for storage purposes. In this connection it will be noted that peripheral skirt 41 is provided with spaced indentations 43 so that flanges 42 and 40 may be releasably interlocked to define the storage enclosure.

As previously described in connection with packaging device 10, the shells 34 and 36 are made of a relatively thin plastic to provide sufficient flexibility to permit insertion of the shells within the sleeve and to also permit interlocking of the shells.

While the invention has been described as comprising a tubular sleeve of specific configurations, it will be understood that this invention may be practiced with other geometric configurations such as a generally oval shaped sleeve and correspondingly matching shells, with assembly of these three component parts still being possible because of the flexibility of the materials involved. Also, while in accordance with the preferred embodiments, the shells are transparent so that the article stored therewithin is visible both in the packaging device and in the storage enclosure formable thereby, such shells could be made opaque if' transparency is not required or desired.

While there is herein shown and described the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and that in the illustrated embodiments certain changes in the details of construction and in the form and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the underlying idea or principles of this invention within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by letters patent is:

1. A packaging device comprising a. an open-ended tubular sleeve,

b. a pair of shells,

c. cooperating means on said sleeve and said shells for retaining one of said shells projecting outwardly of one end of said sleeve and the other of said shells projecting inwardly of the other end of said sleeve, said sleeve and said shells defining therebetween a compartment for an article of merchandise,

d. the outwardly projecting shell in one said packaging device being receivable into the inwardly projecting shell of another said packaging device, whereby a pair of said packaging devices may be nested one into the other,

e. said cooperating means comprising peripheral inner beads at said opposite ends of said sleeve and peripheral flanges at the openings of said shells adapted to be retainingly engaged, respectively, by said beads, the peripheral flange of one of said shells being channel shaped to receive therein the peripheral flange of the other of said shells.

A packaging device comprising an open-ended tubular sleeve,

a pair of shells,

cooperating means on said sleeve and said shells for retaining one of said shells projecting outwardly of one end of said sleeve and the other of said shells projecting inwardly of the other end of said sleeve,

said sleeve and said shells defining therebetween a compartment for an article of merchandise,

d. the outwardly projecting shell in one said packag-l ing device being receivable into the inwardly projecting shell of another said packaging device, whereby a pair of said packaging devices may be nested one into the other,

e. said cooperating means comprising peripheral inner beads at said opposite ends of said sleeve and peripheral flanges at the openings of said shells adapted to be retainingly engaged, respectively, by said beads, the peripheral flange of one of said shells being provided with a skirt having spaced indentations to retain the peripheral flange of the 

1. A packaging device comprising a. an open-ended tubular sleeve, b. a pair of shells, c. cooperating means on said sleeve and said shells for retaining one of said shells projecting outwardly of one end of said sleeve and the other of said shells projecting inwardly of the other end of said sleeve, said sleeve and said shells defining therebetween a compartment for an article of merchandise, d. the outwardly projecting shell in one said packaging device being receivable into the inwardly projecting shell of another said packaging device, whereby a pair of said packaging devices may be nested one into the other, e. said cooperating means comprising peripheral inner beads at said opposite ends of said sleeve and peripheral flanges at the openings of said shells adapted to be retainingly engaged, respectively, by said beads, the peripheral flange of one of said shells being channel shaped to receive therein the peripheral flange of the other of said shells.
 2. A packaging device comprising a. an open-ended tubular sleeve, b. a pair of shells, c. cooperating means on said sleeve and said shells for retaining one of said shells projecting outwardly of one end of said sleeve and the other of said shells projecting inwardly of the other end of said sleeve, said sleeve and said shells defining therebetween a compartment for an article of merchandise, d. the outwardly projecting shell in one said packaging device being receivable into the inwardly projecting shell of another said packaging device, whereby a pair of said packaging devices may be nested one into the other, e. said cooperating means comprising peripheral inner beads at said opposite ends of said sleeve and peripheral flanges at the openings of said shells adapted to be retainingly engaged, respectively, by said beads, the peripheral flange of one of said shells being provided with a skirt having spaced indentations to retain the peripheral flange of the other of said shells. 